Combined energy systems

beta release

a briefing document

Combined
energy systems is a sub-document
to Distributed energy systems
and micro-generation, and part
of a series of briefing documents on the problems of power
consumption, posed by the steady depletion of fossil fuels
and most particularly of pumpable oil.One of a grouping of documents on global
concerns at abelard.org.

photovoltaic
production

“The top five PV-producing countries are Japan, China,
Germany, Taiwan, and the United States. (See data.) Recent growth
in China is most astonishing: after almost tripling its PV production
in 2006, it is believed to have more than doubled output in 2007.
With more than 400 PV companies, China’s market share has
exploded from 1 percent in 2003 to over 18 percent today. Having
eclipsed Germany in 2007 to take the number two spot, China is
now on track to become the number one PV producer in 2008. The
United States, which gave the world the solar cell, has dropped
from third to fifth place as a solar cell manufacturer since 2005,
overtaken by China in 2006 and Taiwan in 2007.

“Strong
domestic production is not always a good indicator of domestic
installations, however. For example, despite China’s impressive
production, PV prices are still too high for the average Chinese
consumer. China only installed 25 megawatts of PV in 2006, exporting
more than 90 percent of its PV production, mainly to Germany and
Spain. But large PV projects are expected to increase domestic
installations. China is planning a 100-megawatt solar PV farm
in Dunhuang City in the northwestern province of Gansu, which
would have five times the capacity of the largest PV power plant
in the world today.” [Quoted from earth-policy.org]

Looks impressive? Keep cool,
the whole world production claimed above is probably worth less
than one standard
big power station in European
conditions. However, the rapid growth and improving technology
are much to be welcomed.

energy
production methods

A video giving a very useful (but unrealistic) description
of combining various energy production methods.

As you
can see, Germany is already the prime electricity importer in
the world, whereas France is the premier electricity exporter.

Referring
back to the video above, the dogmatic
anti-nuclear stance taken in Germany is ludicrous.

The
claims of their no-nuclear energy experiment are nonsense. Germany
claims that one hundred percent of their energy needs will be
produced using renewables by 2050 (40% by 2020). This claim applies
only to electricity supply at current levels. It has no allowance
for heating and transport, nor any allowance for growing vehicle
electrification.

Meanwhile, the German
car industry is whining up a storm at changing controls of their
home gas guzzler production. There is no consideration of the
vast amounts of bio-fuel sources required. There is no consideration
of the huge cost of pumped water energy storage.

The
German proposals are all very neat in theory on a small scale,
but not convincing in the real world.